Snakes and Ladders
by MooBoo
Summary: It’s so easy to fall...but much harder to climb back up. Edward’s life is slipping apart around him…and Bella is the only one who can make it better. But can Bella overcome her own dark past first? AH


**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Twilight...if I did, I would never let Edward out to play :P**

**My first fanfic! So please, go easy on me! This is only the prologue so it's shorter than the actual chapters are going to be, and it's dedicated to Maaya-Neyha because we spent so much time in English talking about fanfiction and her story....and damn, it was so much better than doing real work ;) This story is All Human and with canon pairings but the families are pretty different from the book....what can I say? Originality is good :)**

**Please review, and constructive criticism is welcome of course!**

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**Prologue - It Can Never Be The Same Again**

"I don't care where you _say_ you've been, Charlie Swan, I want the truth!"

"I'm telling you the truth! When are you going to stop being so damn pig-headed, Renee? I went _fishing_! If you can honestly find something wrong with _fishing_ then go ahead, cancel my trips!"

The angry voices floated up the stairs to where Bella sat, hunched up and rocking backward and forward. For two years, they had fought like this, with Renee convinced Charlie was sneaking around behind her back and Charlie getting more and more fed up with Renee's accusations and wild assumptions. Bella knew that neither parent was completely innocent; Charlie never spent any time with his wife or only daughter any more, but Bella wasn't convinced he was cheating. Who would take him other than Renee, she laughed humourlessly to herself.

"Don't you raise your hand to me, Charlie!" Renee's voice rose a pitch higher in anger and panic, bringing Bella out of her thoughts. That was it – if they were going to start hitting each other again, she was out of here. Stumbling into her bedroom, she dressed quickly, pulling on a rain jacket after unnecessarily glancing out the window – it was always raining in Forks. There was an unexpected quiet downstairs for a few moments, giving Bella a chance to think. It was halfway through the summer holidays and quite honestly, it had been hell so far. It was too painful to stay in the house, but there was nothing to do in Forks either, and being only fifteen, Bella was too young to drive up to the only place it was 'happening' – the La Push beach. She had to rely on Jacob to pick her up…and Jacob and reliable didn't often belong in the same sentence. Crossing her room, Bella rifled through her desk drawers, searching for the leaflet she'd found at the local library a couple of months before:

**West California High**

**A boarding school for boys and girls, Grades 9-12, helping teenagers find their path in life…**

Bella stopped reading…she knew the words by heart now, having read it time and time again, trying to wish herself into being there. Trying to wish herself away from here. A knock at her bedroom door made her spin around, a little too fast, sending the leaflet flying through the air and the table lamp crashing to the floor, pulling along the cable connected to the radio with it. The computer toppled and balanced on the edge of her desk and she leapt for it, just managing to right it as her mother stepped inside, worry written all over her face.

"Bells, sweetie, are you alright?"

Bella sighed inwardly…nobody called her Bells…not anymore, but she didn't have the heart to correct her mother.

"Yeah, nothing broken. I just need to-"

Renee cut her off, a huge smile on her face:

"I see you're all ready to go out! Well, why don't we go and check around that new mall up in Port Angeles? Maybe have a bite to eat in La Cesar for lunch? Come on, honey, we'll fix the room when we come back, come on, let's have a little mum and daughter time today, eh? We never do anything anymore."

Bella stared up into Renee's hopeful face. _"We never do anything anymore"_, her mother's voice echoed. I wonder why that is, Bella thought, maybe because you're always too busy screaming at Charlie for not paying attention to me to actually take note of that advice yourself! Everytime her mum came up with something like this, with that optimistic grin, and that look that said, 'This is gonna make it alright again', Bella could never say no. But she knew today, even though it would kill her inside to hurt Renee, she knew that today she was going to say no, she was going to crush that bit of hope inside of her that everything could be normal again.

"Mum, the reason we never do anything anymore is because you're too busy getting on at Dad," her parents were uncomfortable with the fact that she referred to them on first name basis, "And I'm not all ready to go out with you. I'll never be all ready to have some mum and daughter time because we just can't do that anymore! Can't you see? It's never going to be the same, so just stop trying!" Bella paused, her eyes flickering over to the leaflet lying in plain view on her bed. "I've been meaning to ask about something for a while now, Mum. See this?" She picked it up, waving it in Renee's face so she could clearly see the words **West California High Boarding School**. "This is where I want to go, where I want to be. I'm fed up with you, I'm fed up with Charlie, I'm fed up with all of bloody Forks! California's only two states away and there's holidays when I could come and visit and it's not too expensive, I mean, it really wouldn't be any trouble and," Bella caught herself; she was pleading, something she'd promised herself she would never do again. She was getting out of this place…she was not asking for permission…she was asking for confirmation.

"And I'm going, whether you like it or not."

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**So, there's the prologue. Please review and tell me if you think I should continue...and don't worry, all your favourite characters will fit into the story as it goes on.**


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